What Would You Do?

Was on another demolition job recently and as usual there was a safe in the center of the room. The safe was not open and really couldn't be opened by anyone there on the demolition crew, but a few of the guys were taking a crack at the combination while on break.

"What would you do if you got it open and there was a quarter mil in there?" I asked the boss.

"Really? You need to ask?"

"You wouldn't give it to the owner or call your boss?" I asked.

He laughed.

"You'd turn it in?"

And I don't suppose that I would. I imagine that I'd stuff all the cash into my pockets and make a run for the car, but it begs the question of finding lost money and actually turning it in.

A few years ago a friend of ours found an envelope in a shopping cart in the Wal-Mart parking lot. She headed back into the store and turned, the better then $2,000 haul, over to the girl behind the glass in the store.

"You dumb ass," I remember saying. "What do you think that girl did with the envelope?"

"She looked for the rightful owner," she said.

"No!" She pocketed it.

The girl shrugged her shoulders.

"It doesn't matter," she said. "I did what I was supposed to do."

As it turned out...that cash did find it's rightful home. The girl was sure to tell me that she received a call of thanks.

"Geez, that's better than $2,000," I said.

"They gave me a $200 reward," she said, proudly.

"Again. Not better than $2,000."

Yet I wasn't being totally honest there. I may turn in an envelope of money in that instance. I'd surely do so if I found it in a wallet.

At least I like to think I would, but honestly, don't you wish a gang of drug dealers would toss a bag of dirty money on your front lawn?

"No," I said to the foreman after great deliberation. "If there was a quarter mil in there I'd most likely take it."

"I'll let you know if we get it open," he said.

"If there's a quarter mil will you remember me with ten grand or so?" I asked.

"No," he said.

"You'll never hear from me again."